


Assassin

by that_runneth



Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types, Tron: Legacy (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 18:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/665312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_runneth/pseuds/that_runneth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This fanfiction was written for UserKaydee, part of the Tron Female Character Ficathon. The original prompt: "There's another ISO on the Grid, hiding in plain sight. If anyone can find the other ISO, it's Quorra, but this program doesn't want to be found out, and will do anything to keep their secret."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assassin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [UserKaydee](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=UserKaydee).



  The abandoned camp was hidden under a dark out-thrust. She had hard time locating it; whoever had stayed at this place, that had tried their best to cover the tracks. Only a few droplets of energy on the ground and the placement of some smaller rocks revealed, that somebody had been hiding here for a while. It must have been hard; staying here in the darkness and cold, far from the city – for the same reason it was a perfect covert. The fugitive was patient and mistrustful: after finding out the presence of another ISO, Quorra had left secret signs around the territory, where she had suspected the program and at the nearby energy spring, for no avail. Lastly she came too close to the camp, without even realizing it and that was when the ISO left behind the shelter and ran.

 

  Quorra straightened herself suddenly. She thought she had heard something and the suspicion made her raise her disc. They were far from the inhabited area and the Reds did not have properly equipped vehicles to ride on this terrain. Still, the word had gone out, about a dark warrior that was hunting down the remaining ISOs, one by one. Nothing moved; after a short moment Quorra deactivated the disc and turned back to the traces. It could be one or two refugees. It had been cycles, since programs had seen any of the condemned creatures; and Quorra had started to think that she was the only one, the last ISO. They were gone just as the lights of the once admired Arjia City.

 

  Slowly she began to trace. It was a difficult and meticulous duty in the dark; Quorra did not light a torch up. Often she glanced up, looking at the surroundings and pricking her ears for unusual noises. Were they, she was wondering, whoever had left those barely noticeable marks on the ground, were they the only ones, next to her? Quorra lived in the relative safety of Kevin Flynn’s safehouse; the rest of the ISOs were on the run, feeding on the scarce unmonitored energy sources. She rested in a bed and ate at a table, the way she would be one day in the real world, should they escape. That was Flynn’s promise. Again she glanced up at the spot where the portal was hidden in the darkness. It had been like that since long, but would light up sooner or later: the Creator would find a way to activate it from the inside or another User would open it. And then the long cycles of fear and hiding would get to an end: Flynn would go home and would take Quorra with him. To save her life, to reward her for the services and to give her, a perfect being to the world. He would be able to take out one program, he was certain about that and Quorra believed him.

 

  The tracks led down on a slope and from there to a cove. The distant light of the city could not reach that place; Quorra stopped and revealed the ISO-symbol on her forearm with a tug on her suit. She turned around in a slow motion. There came no answer: nothing stirred, nobody let out the relieved sigh of recognition.

 

  “Such a pity,” she whispered. Usually they came; they did step ahead seeing another ISO. There would be embraces and even tears; so she could get the job done and then head toward home, instead of wandering around this dark and dangerous place.

 

  Quorra approached the entrance of the main cave. She lifted her baton and the device lit up with sharp, white light. Black slate covered the irregular walls which appeared to be consuming the pale light. She was afraid; of the hidden dangers of the cave, of not finding the other ISO. Quorra had informed Flynn of their fall, that they had been decimated; all those news just made him more determined to save her. She knew that. They would be standing in the light of the portal, they would escape… Would they? Yes, Flynn would go and he would take his precious ISO – but which one? She, Quorra, who had been looking after him since so long, providing him with company even when he was in a bad mood? Or another one, should they emerge, should they make their way to the Creator? What would make him choose between the ISOs? Was that possible that he would change his mind and would prefer somebody else at the end? Someone more complete, more perfect? That was impossible. She, Quorra was the miracle, the one meant for the User world and she was not going to die in this dark place.

 

  “You can come out now,” she said in a low voice. Something moved, deep inside the cave, but it was crawling away from her, to the other direction. The ISO refused to meet her, was unwilling to talk. Quorra was running and as the sound of her hurried footsteps filled the cave, the refugee ran too. After a short chase the ISO got trapped inside. Quorra saw the tip of a boot before it was pulled back quickly into a crevice, high on the wall. She ran there and reached out for the leg. She did not expect any resistance – usually they were afraid and eager to get some help -, the kick in her face got her unprepared.

 

  Quorra screamed, furious this time. She jumped and got hold of an ankle. Holding onto it, she dropped the baton, unlocked her disc and slashed into the ISO’s leg deeply. The ISO howled; it was a male, Quorra could tell that by now. Pixels were falling on the ground and she was dragging him out from the crevice.

 

  “You are not better than me,” she groaned. “None of you is better than me!”

 

  It was always like that; at the end they always fought. They wanted to live; and she would not mind that, except for she was the one. There could be no ISOs, crawling to the threshold of the safehouse, asking for Flynn’s help, there could be no conversations. He could not discover that there were other ISOs left alive – there could not be a choice. There was way out for only one, and she, Quorra, deserved that spot.

 

  The ISO fell on the ground and turned around to face Quorra. A dark warrior; a silent assassin, taking down their kind, one by one. She saw the realization in his eyes, before her disc came down. He died silently and when the shining pixels hit the floor of the cave, Quorra felt something. It was the sensation of loss and calmness at the same time. The sounds she had been hearing in her head before, the distant thoughts of other ISOs, ceased. There were no thoughts and whispers anymore. There were no more ISOs anymore.

 

  Quorra walked out from the cave. It was dark and quiet as if nothing had changed. She began walking toward the spot where she had hid the lightrunner. Now she would return to the safehouse, to their routine of life, play and learning. Time would pass, but she did not have to worry anymore, nobody threatened the plan, nobody threatened her life.

 

  She was walking. Did she hear the wind? It was not raining, yet a drop of shining liquid rolled down on her face. She shook it away impatiently and sat in her vehicle.

 

_The miracle._

 

  Quorra glanced up at the sky and imagined that other one, which was waiting for her. When the portal would light up, it would be how she imagined the sunrise to be. She would get to see it; the only thing she had to do was to wait.

 

  The vehicle started and began rolling on the strange, deserted land.

 


End file.
